


The Beginning of the End

by flibbertygigget



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canonical Character Death, M/M, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, One-Sided Relationship, POV Voldemort, Power Imbalance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 05:38:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13652532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flibbertygigget/pseuds/flibbertygigget
Summary: It begins like this: Lucius brings him a half-blood with borrowed dress robes and a beautiful snarl, and Tom Riddle thinks "I know you."





	The Beginning of the End

It begins like this: Lucius brings him a half-blood with borrowed dress robes and a beautiful snarl, and Tom Riddle thinks _I know you._ The other Death Eaters piss and moan, they come to him with a thousand complaints about sullied blood and ill breeding, but Tom Riddle knows how to shut up dissent. He knows the difference between him, and Severus, and the rest of those who pretend to be his.

Severus Snape isn’t like Tom, not exactly. He’s a broken reflection: Tom if he had been a little poorer, a little uglier, a little weaker. Not that any of that is Severus’s fault, not really. In the orphanage, at least, there had always been enough to eat, enough money for clothes that were cheap and clean. And that wasn’t even getting into the fact that, while they had been cold, the women at the orphanage had never been cruel. Their rules had been easy to understand and follow; their punishments had been justly meted out. And once Tom had gone to Hogwarts, he had been home free, able to easily win the affection of teachers and classmates alike, able to easily find a way to avoid going back to the orphanage ever again.

Severus Snape, on the other hand, had none of Tom’s advantages. Tom isn’t used to thinking like that, of acknowledging that he came from anything other than complete and utter desolation, but there you are. At least his own father had left rather than abuse and degrade him. At least his own mother had had the grace to die rather than stare blankly and berate him for not turning the other cheek. Tom’s classmates had been able to see beyond his House; Tom’s professors had seen and adored his intelligence.

So Tom can forgive Severus’s continued affection for the Mudblood girl. Hell, he can more than forgive it, he can say that he honestly feels gratitude towards Lily Evans. If it hadn’t been for her, he has no doubt that Severus would have been ground to dust long ago, buried beneath a cheap headstone with no one ever knowing how far the boy could climb if given the smallest scrap. It’s that gratitude that caused him to try and entice her over to his side, along with her fool husband. It’s that gratitude that makes him listen to Severus when he begs for her life.

He can’t let Severus get away with the begging without punishment, of course, but it’s far lighter than any other Death Eater would get for even a lesser offense.

Because Tom has _seen_ Severus Snape. He _knows_ the boy. He understands why Severus flinches away from the allied werewolves and sneers at Lucius’s pureblood rants. He understands why Severus wears layers upon layers of robes and refuses to cast his own spells verbally for fear of them being used against him. He rejoices (yes, _rejoices_ ) when the boy grows, when the boy speaks confidently and stands tall and smiles proudly at Tom’s praise.

Severus Snape is the follower closest to Tom’s heart, and when they win he will offer any rank or office the boy could ever ask for.

* * *

It begins like this: Severus comes back to him.

For a year Tom had been at the mercy of Pettigrew, forced to seek out information about his enemies in between ridiculous displays of reverence and pathetic sniveling. One of the hardest blows to weather had been the news that Severus, _Severus_ had gone over to Dumbledore’s side and actually sought to stop his return. He had held Pettigrew under the Cruciatus for a full five minutes for telling him that, and then vowed that Severus would be the first to die when he returned to his own body.

When Severus wasn’t at the graveyard, the last dregs of hope had left him. When Severus comes back to him, two hours later, Tom is so ecstatic that he only punishes the boy for not coming immediately, and even then only lightly.

Because of course Severus has an explanation. Clever, clever Severus, who kept his position by Dumbledore’s side even when cowards like Karkaroff had been pointing fingers, who risked Tom’s displeasure to fool the old man and return as a spy in Tom’s service. Severus, who is no longer a boy but a man, a man with confidence and grace and more nobility in his little finger than in Lucius Malfoy’s whole family tree.

Part of Tom is surprised when Severus doesn’t mention the fact that Lily Evans had been killed. Tom had suspected, when Pettigrew had made his report, that she was the reason that Severus had turned away from him, and even now he feels genuine regret for how it all turned out. Most of the Death Eaters have always been eager to accost him in his better moods, eager to make requests to kill a blood traitor cousin or promote a brother-in-law in his ranks, and it had been even worse before his humiliating defeat at the hands of the Potter brat. Severus, on the other hand, had only ever made one request, and Tom had given his word. Mudblood she may have been, but he had spared many less worthy of his mercy than her, had spared many who had done far less for those far lower in his affections. Severus has every right to be upset, if only because Tom had proven to be less than the naïve boy had thought.

Severus doesn’t come back as the naïve boy, though. He comes back as a man who understands the cost of securing a position, who forgives Tom for Lily’s death even if Tom can see a deep longing in Severus still. Lily has been eclipsed, Tom can see that, eclipsed by a genuine affection and loyalty for Hogwarts so strong that not even Dumbledore can shake it. When Tom asks, Severus tells him about his role at the school, eyes shining as he talks about his NEWT students and his infirmary potions and his Head of House duties. He talks about his colleagues, the great majority of them fine witches and wizards who, though misguided, always look out for the students’ best interests. Tom can easily see how Severus would have hated Quirrell, who had not only been a malicious coward but also a genuinely horrible Defense teacher.

He sends Severus off with the instructions to continue as he has been. In his mind, Tom allows himself the fantasy of how pleased Severus will be when he gives him the position of Headmaster of Hogwarts.

* * *

It begins like this: A touch. A word. A gaze that lingers a little too long.

Tom had once considered Severus an ugly little thing, mangy and scrawny, with a nose and eyes that together seemed to engulf his entire face. He had held affection for him, yes, but it was the kind of affection you would give to a particularly pathetic stray cat. But that had been Before, when Tom had been at the height of his power, when he had no idea how far he could fall and how far Severus could rise.

He had been wrong. Severus is _brilliant._

Brilliant is the word for it, really. Severus will never be handsome. His skin is still sallow, his hair greasy, his nose too large for his thin face. Were you to pass him on the street, you wouldn’t give his looks a second thought, and if you did it would only be to think _poor bastard_. But there’s something about his dark eyes, about the way his long fingers weave through the air when he gestures, about his whole air. There’s something about him that catches you, making you want to lean in and listen even when he’s talking about obscure potions ingredients. Fascinating. Captivating. Brilliant.

Tom only wishes that he had approached Severus earlier. His new form is frightening, yes, but it’s hardly what would be considered attractive to anyone less insane than Bellatrix. He is determined, though, to have Severus in every way possible, in body as well as in soul, and what Tom Riddle wants Tom Riddle gets. Whether that means courting Severus with his sweetest words or his most potent Firewhiskey, he’ll do it.

When Severus catches onto Tom’s flirtations, he tries to avoid him. He comes to meetings as late as he can manage and leaves as quickly as he can afford. He always has an excuse ready on his tongue, inane protestations of grading and Dumbledore and Order meetings, but Tom can see the truth. Severus realizes what his Lord wants, and Severus is trying to refuse him. It won’t work for long.

When Tom finally makes his move, Severus doesn’t pull away. He doesn’t say “no.” He trembles and grows pale and refuses to meet Tom’s eyes, but he doesn’t do anything to stop it. It’s that, more than anything, that convinces Tom that he was right about Severus. The boy may not want to admit it, but he wants this. He’s terrified, perhaps, but the fact that Tom has chosen him, terrified to make a wrong move, but Tom has no such hesitation.

He makes love with Severus as often as he is able. Tom doesn’t think he could survive otherwise. He doesn’t know if this is love, but it’s got to be pretty damn close.

* * *

This is how it ends: Dumbledore beats Tom again.

He had thought that, once Severus killed the old fool, he would be safe. The only other person to be a threat to him, to his position, was a teenager who had only ever survived through luck and wand cores. Harry Potter would be dispatched soon enough, and with the Ministry under his control no one could stop Tom now. He had already begun to place his most loyal in the positions they deserved.

It was such a shame that loyalty sometimes led only to death.

Tom had tried so hard to find a way around the inevitable. That in and of itself had to be evidence of his affection. With any other of his Death Eaters he would have killed them without hesitation. But this is Severus, who had always been so loyal, whose body was sometimes the only thing keeping Tom sane. Tom had gone to Germany, had broken into Dumbledore’s grave, had done everything in his power, but there is no getting around it.

Severus is the Master of the Elder Wand, and Tom must kill him.

When he calls Severus to the Shack, he doesn’t dare pull the reluctant man in for a kiss. If he allowed that, he knows he would never be able to go through with what must be done. Even while denying himself, he cannot do it the cleaner way, the kinder way. He doesn’t know if he can bring up the will necessary to use _Avada Kedavra_ , and he cannot risk failure in this. So he orders Nagini’s cage to engulf Severus. He watches as his most loyal, his most precious, the only man he can honestly say he would never wish to die, bleeds out on the floor, blood soaking into the wooden boards.

He regrets it.


End file.
